December 27, 2012
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The paradoxity of existence
The paradoxity of existence
Impromptu philosophy
Our existence is more than just our physical presence. Our existence is not that which is published on the internet. Never in time was a single individual’s presence simultaneously in the present moment as a physical moment as well as a presence across the globe. We have multiple accounts like Xanga and Facebook where we leave traces behind of an existence consisting of words, images and ideas. Some of those ideas are creative and others are merely a repeat of that which has touched us. This external existence persists independent of us. There is false or hidden identities that is part of us and yet purposefully disconnected from the physical existence. As the internet progresses the world of electronic existence becomes more entangled and more and more of the individual is becoming known. Yet unlike the physical existence that is moving though time the electronic existence persists as if the past is in the present. What was written on a blog years ago can still be seen as if it was written today. When the blogs, comments and entries are put all together a different image of individuality emerges. The unfathomable depths of the mind is being crystallized externally for whomever wants to see and learn. Somehow we disappear in the sea of information and yet it is entirely possible to tune into a specific individual and see that person’s life path playing like a movie in front of them. Even after physical existence … the traces will be left behind of a person that once was.
In my mental deliberation of this world of electronic memory, electronic existence and connectivity I think about truth. My own truth. I look at the personality that emerges through the naughts and ones of electronic media and question whether it reflects the truth of the individual. We just write and respond from automatic impulse without standing still to ask ourselves the questions about how this will reflect on our being. The physical individuality, as a single instant in time and space could easily hide parts of self from another but in the world of the electronic self the limits of time and space is no longer applicable. What is said now does not disappear in the future, but is kept as a record for a length of time. We know about the dangerous of the electronic world where people lurk with ill intent to use information to steal identity and to launder cash or deprive another though fraud. These dangers are real and there are aspects of self that can never be fully disclosed in the world of electronic existence. Yet, when we believe everything is connected we have to know that existence is no longer just an moment in time and space. The “I” we refer to is a much more inclusive concept than in the past, broader, more complex and more integrated into our world of physical existence. All hang together and is dependent on the physical existence to continue to grow. Like an umbilical cord the electronic existence is linked to the physical existence, able to grow only as long as the physical existence is fact.
How much of our electronic existence is transparent and how much is true? This is the question that was knocking in my mind. Maybe it is time again to stand still at the philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau’s confessions and ask whether we can be as brutally honest about our own existence. Why is it that if somebody who knew a person for years suddenly realized they don’t know the individual at all when they discover the electronic existence? Maybe today I have more questions in my mind than answers. Discovering the wider self and realizing that existence has become more than an instance is earth shattering in insight. We recall from science the dilemma that light behaves both as a particle and wave. When we meet the physical existence we engage on a particle level but when we engage on the electronic platform we engage on a wave level. Reflecting on this reality it is easy to begin to understand that we have an existence outside of time and space in the spiritual domain. We can begin to conceptualize the possibility of being a life-time rather than a moment. I have always maintained that the future and past is within the present moment. In my own mind this is not a blog to draw a conclusion but rather to question again my own concept of existence and wonder at how it is possible suddenly to be at a specific place and time and yet also present in the whole of the world continually influencing and engaging thoughts with other people. these are attributes we assigned to the gods in the past and yet now we live in a world where it is natural to be a global citizen of the world that speaks from the present as well as the past.
The realization of the expansion of presence of individuality is an area that needs some philosophical mental gymnastics. Time for each philosopher to spelunk existence in the electronic world.
Comments (10)
You raise a great point. You seem like you’ve started the philosophy of electronic existence. Why not be the philosopher who spelunks electronic existence? Blaze the trail for the others.
Dear Jurgens,
Hope you are having a wonderful holiday season. Thank you for your visits and thoughtful comments throughout the years.I just got a new tablet computer, and besides the “learning curve” which is substantial for someone who’s never owned a cellphone, I think I’m going to like this new addition to my electronic toy bin.Some of the “apps” (read: programs) I’m installing tell me I can “organize” my life by adding “photos, screenshots, highlighted book passages, FB posts” etc. etc. etc. to give me a “picture” of my life. Now you’ve been “reading” my blog for a while. At one time it was only a sliver of what I call my “webuniverse”, a digital “place” online where I’ve been essentially “storing my life” for over a decade.
In the “pre digital” age, I painstakingly “timestamped’ all my poetry, so to this day, I can pretty much gauge exactly “where my head was at” at any time in my physical life just by flipping a few pages and reading a few thoughts.A lot of what passes as this “digital life” nowadays seems to be less creative and more copy/paste. (In your words, “merely a repeat of that what has touched us”) I think present generations are a lot more passive than my generation was.
I’m sort of glad I got to live live in a pre digital age, because to me seeing a sunset is still infinitely more satisfying than playing a game app on a computer, tablet or phone. (which I still don’t own. In fact, I have one at home with a physical dial, which comes in handy when the digital land phone I have goes on the blink!)
I’m about to turn another page on another of my life’s ever increasing decades. The “Big Sixty”. As usual, in life, I “plan” for this turning. I don’t regret aging. I look forward to the wisdom I seem to gain, in slivers of realizations, until my epiphanies become enlightening truths. The physical doesn’t matter to me. (Inasmuch as I realize physicality is flawed, and I have to watch my health more often these days) The universal has always mattered, and will continue to matter, long after these bits and bytes you write about are gone (well, not really gone but forgotten) and long after this physical “life” is gone.
The present is everlasting. Time is nonexistent. There is no heaven or hell. I’ve written these thoughts so many times I feel I’m merely repeating my own refrains. As my friends pass into their own universal existence, (and boy, they seem to be dropping like flies) I may not be able to communicate with them in the conventional sense, but “they” “we” “I” “you” and “all of us” have always been “here” and will continue to “exist” in the universal consciousness, for all of eternity and yesterday.
Someday I hope to be able to describe the timeless nature of the universe in a manner that mortal man can understand and grasp. As I age, I cease to wonder,and I gain my realizations, and understanding. The key that unlocks understanding can only be gained by physical cessation of “mortal” existence. As long as there is wonder abounding in our lives, we don’t need to rush anything. But when the passing occurs, it will be a glorious “final realization” which will insert our souls into the universal soul of consciousness.
I’m glad I stopped by this morning. A most excellent assessment, and I love the reference to “electronic spelunking”. That’s the image I’ll keep with me when I get home and “descend” into the caves of my new tablet computer. (The first two things I “noticed”: 1. I’m pretty obsessive compulsive, and a major clean freak. When I saw all the fingerprints on the screen, I thought I’d have to carry a bottle of glass cleaner and some tissues with me! Seems like the screen has been engineered for a touchscreen existence. The prints don’t show when using the device. 2. I learned how to type on an old Underwood typewriter, and I’ve been known to break computer keyboards with my aggressive tapping. I have small hands, and I bought an 8.9″ screen tablet, but it’s taking me a long time to be able to adjust my “touch” for the touchscreen. You don’t have to put much effort into “clicking” for instance.
Michael F. Nyiri, poet, philosopher, fool
@C_L_O_G - The philosopher that spelunked electronic existence…lol…I like the ring of it…very tempting suggestion.
@baldmike2004 - Mike it is always a pleasure to get a reply from you. I have learned to value your thinking and insight and appreciate you sharing your thoughts. I have no doubt like the internet the tablet will know that it was taken up by Baldmike once you get going. I dont know anybody that has left more of a legacy in the electronic world than what you have done. Maybe you have had the best of both world where you can appreciate the sunset but also spelunk the electronic world. Enjoy your spelunking.
Wheee Objective vs Subjective Reality What fun!
This interesting problem has puzzled philosophers ever since they stopped throwing rocks at each other, and our modern world with the multiple footprints we all leave has complicated it still more. Our Electronic Existence is much like the memories we have always left behind us -either written or remembered – but with the added function that we can alter them as we never could those printed words – unless we were into massive book and record burning.Looking at existence objectively – not an easy task- Does not our mere observation alter the reality? – We find ourselves diving into the question of how much of our observation is itself an attempt to impose our subjective understanding onto the fact of reality itself.
NB As far as Rousseau s concerned – despite his brilliant descriptions of the joys of child rearing, he and his wife gave their children into adoption – which has always made me rather suspect almost all of what he had to say
This is a good entry. I thought the same thing a while ago when I encountered my ghost on the internet or who I was before the brain damage. I call it my echo. They’ll get lost in it, like leave me alone. You can’t kill that which cannot die. I’m saved on several servers. Thou shalt not change the meaning of Kaela.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsLMHDSN0fs
They hurt my feelings.
@tychecat - the butterfly effect is an amazing one, and it’s true too.
Hmm.. there is really only now: no going back, nor forward. The idea of before and after only exists in the current. In the end we’re always here, no matter what or where we may imagine
Good post!
@Zeal4living - Go for it! Someone will. May as well be you.
@tychecat - As usual you give me a lot of food for thought. Observation might not change reality but it certainly change our perception of reality. We need to view things from multiple perspectives.
@Colorsofthenight - Yet your ghost will still be part of you?
@twilike - Agree….the now is where things happen for in the now we tell the story of the past and we create the foundation for tomorrow.